03/14/2009
Filed In: Candle Making
Candle making can be intimidating at first, and mistakes are bound to happen. In this candle making guide I’ll give you some candle making tips on the common candle making mistakes and how you can avoid them!
Always Bring a Stirring Utensil – While the candle wax is melting, and when mixing in dye and fragrances, you’ll need to stir the wax.
Don’t Forget the Mold Release – When it comes to candle making for beginners, this is one of the candle making mistakes that is very often made. If you don’t use a mold release (or a non-stick cook spray such as Pam), then you’ll be scraping the candle out of the mold, and your candle will be ruined.
Single Pour Wax Confusion – When first starting out, a lot of beginner’s may think that any candle wax is single pour, or that it won’t be too bad. If the packaging or website you buy the wax from doesn’t say that it’s a single pour wax, then you’ll have to make a second pour. This isn’t a big deal, but make sure you make enough wax for the second pour.
Put Down the Newspaper – When pouring you might have splatters so it’s a good idea to put down some newspaper under the molds or containers you are pouring into. This makes clean up a snap.
Measure Out Your Wax – Don’t assume you know how much you need, weigh it. It will save you from making too much of a certain scent/color or prevent you from not making enough.
Using Crayons for Coloring – This not only makes your candles smell like crayons, but it also is very dangerous. It can cause your candle to smoke and smother the wick. It’s just not a good idea, go out and get some coloring specifically for candle making, it really is not expensive at all and you’ll have much richer, more luxurious colors.
Don’t Get Stingy on the Color – Sure you don’t want to use it all in one candle, but using less will not give you the deep color I’m sure you’re looking for. Red is a popular mistake in this category, use too little and your candle will turn out hot pink or salmon. So use enough! This is a hard one to predict though, it will take practice so it’s okay if it’s not perfect the first time.
Using Perfume for Fragrance – Like with the coloring, this is not a good idea at all. The fragrance will most likely not come out smelling like your perfume and it can be very dangerous because perfume is flammable. Instead, find some candle friendly fragrance that is similar to your perfume.
Mixing Fragrances Woes – Okay so you mixed a couple fragrances together thinking it would turn out magnificent. And…well…not so much. That’s okay, that’s what candle making is all about, trial and error. However, I do suggest for beginners, try out the fragrances you buy alone, see what they smell like by themselves in the candle itself. Then, go ahead and make your magic by mixing that fabulous new scent.
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